Sect Leader Is Under Great Pressure CH 014 Is This Danger?
Feng Qingxiu first heard of secret realms when he just reached the Foundation Establishment Stage. At that time, his teacher once asked him seriously if he was afraid of death, and if not then he would help him apply to training in a secret realm, and then explained to him what secret realms were.
In short, cultivators seized the authority of heaven and earth and hid a piece of land into the void, leaving only an entrance, and thus became a secret realm.
There were three characteristics that a secret realm possessed: 1. Other than the entrance, it was impossible to return to the normal world by other means. 2. Generally a secret realm was a dwelling created by a powerful cultivator, so these realms contained a lot of goodies. 3. Dangerous, very dangerous, extremely dangerous.
The Wuling Sea Secret Realm was a less dangerous secret realm suitable for novice cultivators during the Foundation Establishment Stage.
However, its appearance accompanied a disturbance in the Outlands, and the secret realm was located on the Kun-Lai border and it was not safe, so utilizing the secret realm was temporarily put on hold.
This was all the information that Feng Qingxiu learned from his teacher, and he relayed it to everyone without reservation.
Of course, everyone was grateful, and within just a short while, he faintly regained his prestige as the head student that he had been back then while still studying in the upper school.
Only Ye Han showed disdain when he heard these words, as if he had heard a joke.
Soon it was chenshi (7-9am), and the team was ready to set off. The leader of the team was a serious-looking female cultivator wearing a high jade crown and a cold expression. She was the peak master of Yangshuo Peak and the headmaster of the upper, middle and lower three schools. All of the disciples here were basically her students. Seeing that she was about to speak, they were all very respectful—as for Ye Han, he was completely ignored by everyone.
"Since everyone is here, I will make things clear first," The female cultivator glanced around sternly. "You are all future pillars of the sect. The secret realm is not the same as previous training grounds. It is extremely dangerous and deaths are to be expected. Now, you all have an opportunity to train inside. Anyone who only wants to be a scholarly cultivator, it’s not too late to quit now."
A scholarly cultivator only studied and researched cultivation and spiritual incantations. Although the income was not high and the resources were not many, its advantage was safety. It was the first choice for many cultivators with mediocre talent and no self-motivation.
After the female cultivator finished speaking, and seeing that these young cultivators had firm eyes and no one flinched away from her gaze, she could not help but nod slightly: "If this is the case, let us set off!"
The hearts of all the young cultivators jumped, what kind of mount would it be for so many people?
Just as they were thinking about this, they saw a mass of hanging trees, huge rock formations slowly flying over.
"Actually a small celestial flying peak?" Someone exclaimed.
The cost of a celestial flying peak was extremely high. Generally, only the wealth of an entire inner peak could afford the cost and upkeep. This time one was sent specially for them, causing them to all feel overwhelmed and flattered.
"It's only the entrance to the secret realm." The stern female cultivator explained lightly, "Since the secret realm came into knowledge, there have always been small-time thieves and trespassers, so we simply unearthed the entrance to make it easier for our Kun-Lai disciples to enter."
Everyone was speechless for a while.
After a long while, a young female cultivator whispered: "What if it got broken?"
"It's just a secret realm, if it breaks, it breaks, what is there to pity?" The female cultivator spoke with a cold expression, "Don't waste anymore time, I ask again, does anyone want to back out?"
No one moved.
"Then go ahead! The one who gathers the most resources is first place!" With this, her long sleeves whipped out, transforming into a celestial river, and almost instantly these young cultivators were rolled up into the sleeves and blasted into the mountain wall. Of course, the disciples' shocked yells couldn't be helped—Not everyone could keep calm when seeing oneself being thrown face forward into a mountain wall.
Afterwards, the female cultivator shook her sleeves and sat cross-legged in the main hall, waiting for the end of the competition/training.
"Senior Sister is still so rough towards the little disciples." There was a chuckle from nearby.
"Hardship leads to success; do you think coddling them all day long is the right thing to do?" The female cultivator said coldly.
"Naturally not, but being too rigid is also not good," The male voice responded, "every time you scare them, there is always a bit of guilt, you and I know it."
This Great Xuan Secret Realm was used for imperial examinations. Although there were many dangers in it, people would not truly die inside. If someone died in the secret realm, they would turn into starlight and automatically return to the entrance, and thus end the test. Taiyi Peak had tried many times to decipher this secret realm and find out the structural principles, but failed many times—when Great Xuan ruled the world back then, they had collected and gathered many books on ancient talisman seals and spiritual wards of the world, and the dynasty's power could be glimpsed from this secret realm.
"On matters of life or death, there is great horror but also exceeding of one's limits. If they know that it is harmless, then the point of this secret realm will be half lost." The female cultivator said.
The world was chaotic. Their Kun-Lai Immortal Mountain guarded an entire continent. If their disciples could not even pass the life or death barrier, how could they succeed in the immortal way?
"Looking at Ye Han's expression, it seems that he already knows about the inner workings of the secret realm."
"No matter, there is Feng Qingxiu."
"Yes, that's right, now that the Sect Leader has left Seclusion. We must report the matter regarding Feng Qingxiu."
"Naturally!" A dark look flashed across the female cultivator's face, "If we don't stand up for our students, what's the point of being a teacher?"
The male voice let a sound of agreement.
After a while, the male voice suddenly spoke up in a solemn tone: "It seems that something has gone wrong!"
***
The green grass bent in the wind, the plains were vast and endless.
This was the first time Feng Qingxiu had entered a secret realm.
For someone who had seen only clouds and high mountain forests for more than ten years he couldn't help but feel surprised. So this was the grassland?
He heard that the Western Continent was originally only grassland and desert back then, so it was sparsely populated. Later, the Xing Dao Master cut off the spiritual vein of the main mountain with his sword, and a huge gap appeared in the main mountain range that surrounded the Western continent in the shape of a horseshoe. As a result, the South Sea was no longer obstructed, and lush forests began to cover the previously barren land. The whole continent now looked very different from hundreds of years ago.
Since then, the main mountain was named Kun-Lai and became the foundation of Kun-Lai Sect.
What a truly spectacular sight indeed.
The only problem was that this place was completely different from what the cloud tortoise had told him. He had said the entire secret realm was a desert!
He raised his hand and drew several topographic maps in the dirt, carefully comparing it to the current environment.
Fortunately, the topography did not seem to have changed much, only some grass had grown out from the ground.
But he didn’t come to see the scenery, but to hunt and gather spiritual resources!
There were spiritual resources in this place, and the more they gathered, the higher quality spiritual resources they found, the higher the final evaluation. And for him, whether he could stay or be forced to leave, it all depended on this one chance.
Feng Qingxiu smiled slightly, took out a few pieces of black talisman paper with seals, knelt down on the ground quietly, and began to fold them.
The colorful seals jumped nimbly on the tips of his slender fingers, and the talisman paper seemed to come alive in an instant.
After a few breaths, a beautiful black butterfly fluttered at his fingertips. Apart from having no antennae, it was difficult for people to distinguish it from a real butterfly.
He raised his hand and let it go.
Then he began to fold a second one.
Raising his hand again he let that one go as well.
Then a third.
***
After finishing folding all of it, he looked at the few talisman papers left in his hand. After making some calculations, he estimated that two hours had passed.
Then he got up unhurriedly, and after looking around, he walked in one direction.
In his mind, he could feel the colorful butterflies flying to the corresponding positions one by one.
It was about time. He raised the standard long sword given to the disciples and thrusted it into the grassy ground.
"Hiss—" There was a huge hissing sound, and the earth suddenly shook. A huge beast as tall as a ten story tower burrowed out of the ground, its large mouth with sharp jaws dripping with rotten smelling mucus snapped forward like lightning.
The sword energy suddenly bloomed like a chrysanthemum.
A shadow appeared in Feng Qingxiu's eyes, the body of the beast filling his vision.
He didn't retreat but advanced, the sword energy cleverly avoiding the fierce jaws, like a light breeze blowing by.
The giant beast froze in mid-air, and after a breath, it fell to the ground.
Though he was only in the Foundation Establishment Stage, Feng Qingxiu's swordsmanship which had received pointers from the Sect Leader himself had already possessed a trace of pure sword intent.
The Rift Sword was simplified from the Supreme Nine Heavens Calamity Sword, and that kind of fierce sword intent was beyond comparison with ordinary opponents.
Feng Qingxiu carefully recalled the structure of this sand worm, and began to peel off the skin. The sand worm's tendons were valuable, its core was also a good thing. Its poison sac could also be useful, and the fangs could be used as chopsticks. He also heard that the skin was quite popular with the sand spirit demon clan of the Outlands…
After packing up all spoils of war, Feng Qingxiu bounced the slightly heavier pouch in his hand and then walked to the right.
For his next target, he must be quick. The cloud tortoise said that there were nineteen dangerous places to avoid.
***
Ye Han walked by a river, worrying about his already full pouches.
His journey was too smooth, meeting only a few harmless water beasts, but the spiritual plants and rocks he picked up along the way could no longer fit in his expanded pouch.
It was his mistake, he should not have used the standard pouch handed out by the sect.
So… he could only defeat a disciple and take their pouch away.
In any case, Mingyu said that no one could truly die here.
It would be great if he could come across Feng Qingxiu, he had wanted to kill the other many times.
But if he really encountered him in this secret realm—hmph, forget it, he had agreed to avoid the other last time, and he kept his promises.
Then he'll find other people instead, no matter what, he must defeat him this time to make Mingyu happy.
As he was thinking about this, he sensed the presence of someone downstream.
Walking over carefully, he saw a female cultivator in a red robe preoccupied with taking out a small red snake with the thickness of a finger from her pocket and feeding it water.
The little snake rolled up its tail in satisfaction and stretched out a tiny forked tongue to lap at the water.
It'll be her then. Ye Han coldly announced in an arrogant tone: "Hand over your pouch and I won't kill you."
The girl looked at him in surprise.
Ye Han didn't bother to talk nonsense. He circulated his spiritual energy, and attacked: "Take that!"
However, mid-way through, his body suddenly stiffened, all of his strength seemed to disappear, and he fell to the ground.
The girl petted the little snake with a smile on her face and kissed it in reward. Her snake had discovered him a long time ago, and its poisonous fumes had also been released a long time ago as well. She was just waiting for him to walk right into the trap.
She stepped forward and picked up Ye Han's pouch, and let out an exclamation. There were so many things!
"You put that down!" He roared, trying desperately to circulate his spiritual energy and break through the immobilizing effect of the poison in his body.
"You are not Ji Mingyu, as if I'll listen to you." The girl's voice was soft and had an accent, "You are not that powerful after all. I will be taking this pouch yo~."
The little snake slithered down and bit his finger, and the energy he had just managed to gather dispersed again.
Then she walked into the stream and disappeared from Ye Han's sight.
Ye Han was extremely angry for a while, trembling with rage, and vowing to find and make that girl know just how powerful he was.
However, he did not notice that a drop of blood fell from his finger and was then instantly immersed in the grassy earth.
This drop of blood with the blood of the Great Xuan imperial bloodline disappeared as if it had fallen into the void.
AN: Mini extras
Daily life in Shennong Peak
1. Incantations
When Feng Qingxiu was brought to Shennong Peak to do miscellaneous work, a group of disciples who were new to Shennong Peak were drooling at the Cloud Talsiman Dao Seed placed in the main hall.
"In our Shennong Peak, those with Earth and Wood spiritual roots cultivate the Qingque Profound Law, and by placing the Cloud Talsiman Dao Seed in one's sea of consciousness, it becomes a world of its own, and the body will act as the connection between the two worlds." The manager introduced the Cloud Talsiman Dao Seed to the new disciples. "Of course, depending on how much spiritual energy your body absorbs to supply this small world, the better the crops will grow, and the better the crops grow the more spiritual energy it can produce to expand the land, and if the more land the more you can plant spiritual plants…”
"Then we can only farm? How do we use spiritual incantations?" A disciple asked.
"Incantations? What kind of thing is that, just farming is enough." The manager calmly said, "When encountering danger, just hide in your spiritual realm. If not at least two cultivation levels higher than you, then they can forget about catching you. Only those afraid of death come to Shennong Peak. Did you think this was just a joke?"
The disciples looked dumbfounded.
Several disciples who were not selected by other peaks and were transferred to here instead bursted into tears.
2. People
"Senior Brother, why are there so many other peak disciples outside?" Feng Qingxiu asked a cultivator while weighing the rice.
A junior brother was mobbed just as soon as he went out. It was quite a frightening sight.
"They are here to place advance orders for rice," The senior brother was not surprised, "Our Shennong Peak rice, you can't buy it just because you want to."
"Won't they be angry?"
"If they aren't satisfied then they can plant it themselves!"
3. Fate
"The sea of consciousness is surrounded by the natural breath of chaos. The larger the land, the wider the scope of the sea of consciousness, the stronger the soul, the higher the cultivation base. Of course, the Cloud Talsiman Dao Seed is shockingly small at the beginning, and you can only plant two cabbage at most. You little brats should take care not to go overboard, if you plant more than you can take, your life force will be sucked dry. Don't say I haven't reminded you." The instructor said as he opened a bag of stones.
"My family has been farming for several generations, and just as I thought I could escape the same fate you tell me that I must go back to farming. Feels like there is no hope left in this life..." A disciple said sadly.
"Stupid, is the land you farmed done in vain?" The instructor was angry, "The bigger your spiritual farm field is, the heavier a blow you can deal out. The Peak Master's spiritual farm field is thousands of acres large, and even cultivators in the Demigod Stage can't take a hit from him!"
"But that's only if he could even land a blow in the first place… ah! Why are you here, Peak Master? No, I didn't mean—ah!"
4. Injury
"How come the Peak Master walks so silently despite being such a heavy person!" The injured disciple cried sadly.
He was practically a mountain of flesh!
"The Peak Master is a rabbit spirit demon, have you ever seen a rabbit who makes noise when walking?"
"Can rabbits farm land?"
"Rabbits are most afraid of death."
"..."
That made a lot of sense.
5. Field
"I want a Cloud Talsiman Dao Seed..." A disciple said shyly, and the group of cultivators behind him also looked eager.
"Recently, it's 30% off, so it's now nine thousand spiritual stone points." The manager said coldly.
The faces of this group of cultivators behind him pale in shock.
"That's..." The disciple turned his head, only to see the group of cultivators behind him all avoiding his gaze.
"Only Nascent Soul cultivators and above can afford it." The manager said without any surprise, "Cultivate your spiritual farm field to the Golden Core Formation Stage, and then look for a rich Nascent Soul cultivator to sponsor you."
"..."
6. Rice
"Azure Rice! I want Azure Rice! Give me one hundred thou—" A spirit demon felt the rest of the words get stuck in his throat under the glare of a firebird next to him, "Give me one hundred catties."
"Three catties of Crystal Rice… ai, it's getting more and more expensive. I miss the time we were studying in the outer peaks, getting to eat free rice for ten years. I really ate a mountain of gold."
"One catty of Yin Yang Blood Rice and one catty of Fragrant Blue Grass." The person who next took out a jade box and said, "I already made an advance order, this is the payment."
"...Your Excellency, are you in need of a servant? No money needed, just feeding me a few grains of rice each day is enough."